Thank you very much for the question and thank you, also, for your comments in the House of Commons when you spoke to this bill. You spoke in support of it, and I appreciate your comments. A lot of the things you said were things that we looked at when we talked about different ways of amending this and making it work.
First, when you write a private member's bill, you want it to be successful in the House of Commons, but you also want it to be successful across the country. I think, again going back to the comments I made to Mr. Genuis, I want this to be successful and I want this to be seen by the provinces, territories, indigenous governments, and all of the groups that are interested in participating in this. I want them to feel like partners at the table in collaborating to come up with a strategy as opposed to taking the heavy-handed approach of us saying “This is what we're going to do. What do you think?”
I think it's important that we come in from the start with a collaborative approach. I share your comments and those of the previous speaker, and I do hope this is taken seriously and looked at. I believe, based on the successes of B.C., P.E.I., Manitoba, and Quebec, and the voluntary program in Ontario.... I'm not a fan of voluntary programs, but it is having some success. I want to see if we can look at these successful programs. Nova Scotia has just hopped on the bandwagon in the last few months with a program. Nova Scotia Power is participating and taking bulbs back.
These are steps in the right direction, but these are piecemeal approaches. These are approaches that help the overall picture. I mean, we are currently throwing away in landfills, 50% of all of the mercury-bearing bulbs used in Canada. That is including the success of B.C., Manitoba, P.E.I., Quebec, and now Nova Scotia. Actually, the numbers probably don't reflect the new program that Nova Scotia has started, but they reflect the programs of the other provinces that are doing great things. Let's get everybody in the room. Let's find out what's working. Let's find out why B.C. is so successful and see if that would work across the country. Let's have the respect for those other levels of government and have them at the table to share their successes with us.